Banks to be hit with Microsoft costs for running outdated ATMs

Believe it or not, roughly 95 percent of ATMs in the world are still running Windows XP -- and that's about to become an expensive problem. Machine designer NCR says that only a third of banks will upgrade their ATMs to a newer OS before official XP support ends on April 8th, leaving many institutions little choice but to pay Microsoft for an extended contract if they still want support. At least some banks plan to update, but they're facing both technician backlogs and steep transition costs; estimates suggest the big UK firms might pay up to £60 million ($100 million) each to make the leap. Whether or not your bank joins the modern era, you shouldn't be surprised if you end up footing some of the bill.

The U.S. software company (Microsoft) first warned that it was planning to end support for Windows XP in 2007, but only one-third of the world's 2.2 million ATMs which use the system will have been upgraded to a new platform, such as Windows 7 by the April deadline, according to NCR, one of the biggest ATM makers.

To ensure the machines are protected against viruses and hackers many banks have agreed deals with Microsoft to continue supporting their ATMs until they are upgraded, extra costs and negotiations that were avoidable but are now likely to be a distraction for bank executives.

Windows XP currently supports around 95 percent of the world's ATMs.